Thank you to all who have read my suggestions for getting more out of Pianoteq PRO from a piano tuner's/technician's perspective.
It was exactly these ideas that gave rise to Modartt's creating the "piano condition" slider, a few years ago.
Agreeing completely, at first thought it seems that the PRO version might be "overkill" for some pianists. However, the more I use the note edit feature in PRO, the more I find I cannot do without it! I might add some other insights that help make the Pianoteq experience come alive for me. These are done on a regular basis -- and, sorry to say, I do NOT save them as presets!! (Why not? Because I like to tweak here and there differently on different days or moods! -- besides, it's very easy to do and it only "increases" the pleasure of Pianoteq ... it never detracts from the pleasure, as long as these little edits are done in moderation.)
When in the Pianoteq PRO note edit window:
Hammer hardness: In the Mezzo window, I grab the centermost blue dot and raise just that center dot from hardness of .80 --> .86 or .87. THEN, I click the "randomize" button once or twice. This has the effect of raising hammer hardness slightly randomly more in the grand staff, and also allows just a bit of variation across the whole keyboard! This feature really makes the live playing experience "really come alive"!!!
Repeat for the other two hammer sliders. Please note, there is a slight variation across the piano, and by randomizing slightly, these differences even show up between soft and louder playing -- because different hammer hardnesses are affected across the keyboard, dependent upon note-on velocity!
Spectrum Profile -- usually I leave this alone; occasionally, I will simply click the randomize button once or twice, for variety. Do NOT overdo this, or the piano will sound strikingly different [pun intended], and you might give up further experimentation.
Hammer Noise -- I apply similar changes as denoted in Hammer Hardness, above. The trick is to increase the blue dot in the center of the note edit screen from 1.00 ---> 1.12 to maybe 1.15, then randomize with only one or two clicks.
Strike Point This is one of Pianoteq's undiscussed gems!!! Randomizing the strike points unleashes beautiful overtones to the individual notes -- that you might otherwise miss!
Sympathetic Resonance Again, a simple few clicks of the randomize button will make nice subtle changes, especial to legato playing using the damper pedal.
Duplex scale resonance -- In my opinion as a piano tuner, duplex scaling is a "cure without a disease"! Steinway introduced it a long time ago -- the theory being that the small remaining lengths of string will resonate either harmonically (which they claim) or non-harmonically (which they can't prove), and create a more "bell-like" tone. If this is true, then why does Steinway use felt strips to dampen all of the short lengths of the lower 68 notes' strings? It doesn't hold water. (Incidentally, a "bell-like" tone is associated with odd harmonics in a piano with high inharmonicity -- otherwise proclaimed as an undesirable effect!)
Therefore, I do nothing with adjusting duplex scale resonance.
Damper Position This is another interesting adjustment that affects the overtones of the strings WHILE the dampers silence the strings' vibrations. I simply randomize them with one or two clicks of the Randomize button.
Damping Duration In my opinion, this is a very important adjustment. Why? That's because longer, thicker strings have more vibrational inertia than do thin strings. Therefore, I tend to INCREASE the duration of the lowest octave from 1.00 to about 1.15 and then randomize them. Interestingly, and this is especially true of the Blüthner's aliquot strings, I INCREASE the damping duration, progressively in the top 1-2 octaves. Why? That's because there are no dampers in a real piano's top octave! So, let them ring!
Key Release Noise I treat key release noise in the same manner as Hammer Hardness. -- More wear in the grand staff.
In conclusion:
I make it a practice to adjust (and randomize) some -- but not all -- of these parameters on any given day. Most notably, I do NOT save them as presets, because there would be too many presets hanging around that I would not use more than once or twice.
Again, the desired effect of these slight randomizations is to make the piano sound and behave in a more "organic" way (whatever that means!). If you are able to tell an immediate/difference, then you have possibly overdone the tweaking.
The overall goal is to have fun with Pianoteq and to have fun with your music making!
Thanks for having read this far.
Cheers,
Joe
EDIT Added Later:
On the subject of "organic": A piano is a living, breathing entity that picks up and releases moisture, dependent upon temperature and season of the year, and your climatic location around the world. Real pianos DO behave differently on different days and in different seasons because of this fact. All wood that is not petrified ... will pick up and release moisture content. Ironically, a good piano will even go "sharp" in the summertime. Why? That's because the soundboard, although varnished on one surface, still picks up ambient moisture and tends to expand against the strings. To those customers whom I tune 4 or more times per year, I "allow" the instrument to sharpen to A442 or A443 during the summer months, and then allow it to sag to A439 or A440 during the winter months. Why? I wish NOT to be constantly turning the tuning pegs in the pinblock, and risk making them come loose! JCF
Last edited by jcfelice88keys (13-05-2016 20:40)